"Stop beating your animals!" says Hooflepoof.

The man seems surprised that anyone would be challenging him. "Who are you to tell me..."

"I am Salbon the Great!" interrupts Hooflepoof.

"...so I suppose you know everything about horses, Salbon-so-Great?"

"Yes, I do."

"Then how am I supposed to get this nag going?"

Bilbo butts in, "You could start by getting her some water."

"She gets water at the next stop."

Perhaps as a way of relieving the tension, one of the man's guards steps forward with a flask of water and a shallow dish. The man reluctantly gives it to the horse, who gulps it down, and staggers to her feet. The man, still angry and now a little embarrassed, unhooks the bridle and ropes from the horse, slaps its hind-quarters, saying "then just git, you useless nag", and it jumps away to the side of the road.

Karat goes over and greets the horse gently. It shies away at first, but she continues talking to it and picks some long grass from beside the road to feed it, and before long they have made friends, and the horse is happy to follow her.

When Hooflepoof returns to the box seat, Noohar seems displeased. "Your job is to be my bodyguard, Salbon, not to rescue every stray. Next time, that could be a trap. I expect you to be a little more attentive to my safety."

"Ok," says Hooflepoof.

The rest of the day continues uneventfully, and as the sun goes down, the caravan stops, and everyone pulls to the side of the road to make camp. As they are setting up their tents and preparing dinner, they notice that in another corner of the same clearing, a pair of rather exaggeratedly attractive women are setting up their own camp. One of them says hello to Black Barry from their campfire. He doesn't answer, and readies his sword.

A few minutes later one of the ladies shuffles over near their camp, and introduces herself to Karat. "Hi," she says. "I'm Arietta, and that's my sister Zelena."

Karat tries to be friendly. "So where are you guys headed?"

"Oh we're going south, to a small town down there. My aunt lives there, she is old and sickly, and we're going to help her. What about you guys?"

"We're hired guards, protecting the carts."

Arietta points subtly toward Black Barry. "My sister likes that guy, what's his story?"

"Oh, he just joined us. Apparently he needs the money."

"Does he have a wife, children?"

"He likes cats."

She looks over and makes a clawing gesture, with a flirtatious "rrraawwwr". "What does he like to drink?"

"I dunno," says Karat, "perhaps some milk?"

"Well we have plenty of milk. Perhaps let him know that he is welcome to join us if he would like some."

"Ok, but he won't be able to stay up late, we have work to do. Also I think he likes you better than your sister."

"What are you guys hauling?"

"It's not our business," says Karat. "We just guard. Where are you all from?"

Arietta names a small town that is not familiar to Karat. Black Barry tries to stay as far away from these ladies as Michigan.

A few minutes later, Elfo saunters over to their fire, where the ladies are shuffling around their campfire, cutting and adding ingredients to a large pot on the fire.

"My, what a gorgeous elf," one of them says, "would you like to stay for some dinner?"

"Sure," he says, and sits down on a log near their fire. They feed him some soup, and it is delicious, much better than what Noohar has been feeding them. As he is eating, the two sisters inch closer and closer, on each side of him, laughing and sort of flirting with him.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you ladies," he says, "but I have a wife."

"Oh is that your wife?" one of the ladies says, pointing toward Bilbo.

Elfo laughs, "no, that's not her."

One of the ladies puts her arm around Elfo's shoulders. "Well then, your wife isn't here, is she?"

"Ah well, I have to go tend to my horses. Nice to meet you two," says Elfo, extracts himself and goes back to their camp to mess around with the horses back in the shadows.

The two ladies continue cooking and chattering between themselves, and in a few minutes Black Barry walks over to their campfire, on guard, and says hi.

"Well hi there," says Zelena, "what's your name?"

"Bert," says Black Barry.

"Well, would you like some dinner? Everybody says our stew is the best!"

Arietta holds out a bowl of stew, and Black Barry takes it without saying anything. "So, tell us about yourself, sweetie."

"No" says the Tabaxi flatly.

"Well, that's not very friendly conversation, for such a cute little cat-guy."

"Just no."

Black Barry takes out his sword, and both ladies jump back with their hands up in front of them, like "whoa, what's the deal?"

He puts his sword back in its scabbard without a word. The two ladies mutter confusedly with each other in hushed tones. Black Barry gets up and walks away. As he walks away, he overhears one of the ladies saying quietly, but just loud enough that she probably intends him to hear, "wow, what's wrong with that guy?"

After a few minutes Bilbo goes over to their camp.

"Well hello," laughs one of the ladies, "looks like we're going to feed your whole camp, one by one!"

"Yeah," says the other, "good thing we're not poisoning you!"

Bilbo already had a plate in her hand, but now looks suspiciously at it, and doesn't eat.

"For heaven's sake, we're just kidding!" says one of them. "Sit down, relax, eat. We don't mean you any harm."

Bilbo takes a bite of the stew, and it is as delicious as everybody says. "What is your intention here?" she asks them.

"Nothing!" says one of the ladies. "We were just here camping for the night, just like you, on the road. And we thought that one was pretty cute." One of the ladies points toward Elfo, the other toward Black Barry.

"Hey Cabrone," says Bilbo (referring to Elfo by his assumed name), "come here."

Elfo comes over, and Bilbo makes a quick exit, saying "sorry, I was interrupted in my duties."

Just then Black Barry comes over, and throws two precious stones on the ground near the ladies' fire. "Are those for us?" they ask, confused.

Black Barry says nothing, and sits down on a log by their fire. The ladies look at the stones, but don't step toward them. He grabs the stones again, saying "you missed your chance", and then sits back down.

The sisters take the pot off the fire, and start shuffling around, putting things away in their bags and baskets. "Sorry," says Black Barry, getting up. As he walks off, he drops one of the precious stones where the ladies can see. He doesn't notice whether they pick it up or not.

As the adventurers continue with their evening preparations, they notice the sisters packing up their camp and moving to another clearing further down the caravan, too far away to see. But in the coming days, they will notice that the sisters continue to travel north with the caravan, instead of south, where they said they were going.